Malachi 4:5

4:5 Look, I will send you Elijah ¹  the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord arrives.

Matthew 11:14

11:14 And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, who is to come.

Matthew 17:10-12

17:10 The disciples asked him, ²  “Why then do the experts in the law ³  say that Elijah must come first?” 17:11 He ⁴  answered, “Elijah does indeed come first and will restore all things. 17:12 And I tell you that Elijah has already come. Yet they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wanted. In ⁵  the same way, the Son of Man will suffer at their hands.”

Luke 1:17

1:17 And he will go as forerunner before the Lord ⁶  in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, ⁷  to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him.”

¹ sn I will send you Elijah the prophet. In light of the ascension of Elijah to heaven without dying (2 Kgs 2:11), Judaism has always awaited his return as an aspect of the messianic age (see, e.g., John 1:19-28). Jesus identified John the Baptist as Elijah, because he came in the “spirit and power” of his prototype Elijah (Matt 11:14; 17:1-13; Mark 9:2-13; Luke 9:28-36).

² tn Grk “asked him, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant and has not been translated.

³ tn Or “do the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

⁴ tn Grk “And answering, he said.” This has been simplified in the translation.

⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

⁶ tn Grk “before him”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷ sn These two lines cover all relationships: Turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children points to horizontal relationships, while (turn) the disobedient to the wisdom of the just shows what God gives from above in a vertical manner.